Apr 24, 2009 - 09:15 pm .- During his homily at a Mass on Thursday for members of the Vatican public security service, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone encouraged them to carry out their duties “with dedication and love, with equity and balance, with a sense of responsibility and concern for the common good.”

Apr 24, 2009 - 05:27 pm .- Beginning today, Gypsies from all over Europe started out on the fifth international pilgrimage to a chapel honoring one of their own, Blessed Ceferino Jimenez Malla. The saintly Cerefino, who is known as “Pele,” was martyred for refusing to deny his devotion to the Rosary.

Apr 24, 2009 - 04:15 pm .- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made the “Plan B” contraceptive available to 17 year-old women without a prescription. One pro-life leader has warned the decision treats pregnancy as a “disease” and could put young women and newly-conceived human beings at risk.

Apr 24, 2009 - 02:42 pm .- The bishops of Venezuela meeting for the Plenary Assembly issued a statement calling on government officials to respect the will of the people and not seek to impose the government's agenda on the country by force.

Apr 24, 2009 - 01:16 pm .- Caritas Buenos Aires has strongly rejected the threats made against Father Jose Maria DiPaola, the pastor of Our Lady of Caacupe and one of the signers of a recent declaration that addressed the city's drug problem.

Apr 24, 2009 - 11:37 am .- The Italian media published statements Thursday by the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Renato Martino, who said Pope Benedict XVI would publish his third encyclical—this time on social issues—on June 29.

Apr 24, 2009 - 10:06 am .- The Press and Information Office of the Society of Jesus issued a note today denying that their superior had approved the publication of documents from the archives of Fr. Robert Graham S.J. on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.

Apr 24, 2009 - 05:26 am .- The Pave the Way Foundation has told CNA that the archives of the late Fr. Robert Graham S.J., who was the Vatican's top expert on the wartime role of Pope Pius XII, will add to the evidence showing Pope Pius XII to be “the greatest hero of World War II.”

Apr 24, 2009 - 03:46 am .- The famous Catholic evangelist Archbishop Fulton Sheen's reputation for holiness and his impact on Catholics and non-Catholics alike has led to his cause for beatification being opened. Bill Engelbrecht, a member of the Archbishop Sheen Foundation’s board of directors, told CNA recently that the cause is progressing “quite well.”